He is rich, successful and happily married. But Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl was still driven into therapy.
Making the last album you
went off in a huff and toured
with Queens Of The Stone Age.
This time you had to build an
out-of-town leisure centre
before recording. Why?
We did One By One in Virginia
and I'm very proud we made that
album in a basement with
sleeping bags nailed to the wall and a keg in the bathroom and
it won a Grammy. But there
was a time making One By
One when I thought, "This is
our last album", and thought I'd
just go back and be a drummer.
But I missed what we do too
much. And to really make it
family I decided we'd need... a
giant fucking playground!
On the acoustic album you duet
with Norah Jones on a supper
club bossa nova.
That's right. The song is a few
years old. I'm always writing
stuff that doesn't fit with the
Foo Fighters' supposed sound.
The acoustic album was my
chance and I thought Norah
would sound great on it.
When we recorded it I thought,
"This doesn't sound like the
Foo Fighters," and Nate said,
"Well, that's why it should go
on the record."
Some people will think
you're nuts.
Tough titties.
You got married in 2003. Is the
acoustic album a concession
to the missus? "You can have
Josh Homme but I want Norah
Jones on there."
No, [my wife] Jordan didn't get
me to duet with Norah Jones on
the record. I love her voice. She
came down on Valentine's Day.
We cleaned up, stashed the porn,
put some flowers in the studio
and she wafted in and did the
whole thing in two hours. She
is extraordinary.
Did she use the wireless
internet in the lobby? The
password is "pussy"...
Come on, dude. This is the home
of a rock band. People coming
here know what to expect.
Would you flinch if you went to
Norah's studio and her access
code was "cock"?
Aw, dude, give me a break. No...
she wouldn't... of course not!
There's a theme emerging.
Half of you answers to the
primitive call of rock. And
then the emotional richness
of the acoustic album is your
feminine side.
Yeah, the first is my Jack-and-
Coke record. I'm 36 now and I
realise I cannot live witpout that.
The second is my Sapphire-and-
Martini-with-Kylie record.
I heard you went to the
Motorhead 30th anniversary
party and got absolutely
hammered and missed your
morning yoga session with
your wife...
True. I was totally destroyed.
You try aligning your chakra
after a gallon of whisky. But the
thing is I still tried. I can do both.
How will you reconcile all these
different sides of you at your
next barbecue? For example,
would you warn Lemmy off
Norah Jones if they met?
I'd strongly advise her against
dating the guy, yeah. The age
difference is about 40 years,
dude, and that's impossible.
Age matters, it really does.
Eight years is the max. If it's
any more than 10 years, then it's
a generation.
What's the age difference
between you and Jordan?
Eight years. But let me say
I am the immature one, straight
off. Her generation are very
together and have it sussed.
I'm the slouch.
The lyrics to In Your Honor
sound like marriage vows
set to caveman riffs: "What's
mine is yours/I would die for
you tonight".
Oh, well, it's not about my wife.
It's actually for the people who
are suffering under the Bush
government. I travelled round
the Midwest with John Kerry
and I was almost in tears meeting
people in places like Madison,
Wisconsin, seeing that they were
desperate for hope, for help.
Your dad is a Republican
speech writer, isn't he?
Yeah, he was a journalist and
campaign manager and
speech-writer. He worked for
[Washington DC news agency]
Scripps Howard. My dad's a very smart man but very conservative.
My mum is a liberal
schoolteacher. When I did the
Kerry thing I thought he'd go
nuts but he sent me a message
saying, "I don't agree with you
but I'm proud you're standing up
for something you believe in."
You always seem wary of the
slightest Nirvana allusion in
interviews. People will be
surprised to see Friend Of A
Friend on the album.
I am a bit concerned what
people will make of that.
But also I didn't want to edit
myself. I recorded it, people
thought it was a powerful song
and so there it is.
It's an eerie observation of
Kurt and you'd only known him
a few weeks, hadn't you?
Yes, I'd just moved in with Kurt.
I didn't know anybody. I had a
drum set packed in one box and
flew up there. I would stay up till
the sun came up and sleep all
day. Olympia, Washington, is
fucking depressing enough and
I was living with this person
that I didn't know. But he had a
four-track so I wrote songs:
Marigold and Friend Of A
Friend. It was an observation of
Kurt and Krist and I.
To write, "He's never been in
love/But he knows just what
love is/He says, Never mind,
and no one speaks" about a
man you barely knew seems
eerie, prescient now.
Maybe. You shoulda lived there,
dude. [Starts drumming his fingers
manically. He does this whenever
Cobain's name comes up.]
You feel uncomfortable?
Yeah... kinda. It's tough because
I played [acoustic album opener]
Still for a Japanese journalist and
it contains the word Nevermind.
Even just the word makes people
flinch or get worked up. So, yes,
I feel uncomfortable because it's very personal and the one thing
that everyone expects. That's
what I don't like. I write a song
and it's [wheedling child's voice],
"Is this about fucking Courtney
or Kurt? Courtney or Kurt?"
You know, there have been
a few other people in my life that
That I have been in love with or that
I fucking hate, they're not all
about Kurt and Courtney.
Did you ever play Friend Of A
Friend to Kurt?
No. I don't think I did.
Probably not.
The lyrics to DOA - "There's
nothing like the taste of sweet
decline/What a shame we have
to die, my dear" - don't sound
like chirpy Dave Grohl.
Fuck, I feel like that all the time.
Just as much as I'm a musician,
I can be an actor and politician
too. I'm very good at looking
after everyone and being nice
and making people comfortable.
I love making people feel good.
Doesn't mean I'm the fucking
happiest person in the world.
So when did you last get in a
strop, kick the cat?
[Smart-arse wheedling voice]
I would never hurt a kitty cat.
There have been moments
making this album when I have
questioned what I am doing
with my life and whether I am
a good person or not. There's
always self-loathing.
Who do you talk to about it?
I take it to the album. I don't
wanna bum anyone out. I've had
my therapy, brother. I've done
my sessions when I let it all out.
When?
Eight months ago I went back to
therapy... after Kurt died I went
into therapy and as a teenager
I did. Everyone has their dark
side and I've done my share of
looking into it. I get down but
I'm not a fucking mess.
What made you go back eight
months ago?
I'm not telling fucking Q
magazine what I talk about in
my therapy session!
Did the band go too?
No fucking way. Like Metallica?
Now that's a bad idea. Go to
counselling with your spouse by
all means, but with your heavy
metal band? That's bullshit.
You got a problem just say it or
keep your fucking mouth shut.
You don't need a guy in a
sweater on $40,000 a week to
tell you what to do.
But you're a father figure and
healer - averting war between
The Darkness and Lemmy.
Ah, my shining hour of
diplomacy. The Darkness played
at the Henry Fonda Theater in
Los Angeles and afterwards we
went to the Rainbow Room for a
drink. Justin told me
the band had a beef with Lemmy.
So I called Lemmy on the cell. He
lives a block away. Lemmy had
said he didn't like Justin's voice
and Justin had said something
back. You know... playground
crap. Probably you or some
other fucking journalist stoking
it all up and making work for
Uncle Dave. But I sat them down
with a coupla drinks and - hey
presto! - you got a monsters of
rock summit.
Tell me about getting John Paul
Jones on the album.
I asked him to play on the record
and he called me. I know I sound
ridiculous but some bands are
like a religion to me. Led
Zeppelin are just... I ran around
the room screaming, "Guess
who I just fucking got a call
from?" Then he asked if I'd like
to sit on his table when they were
being inducted into the Rock
And Roll Hall Of Fame. This
wasn't Puff Daddy and fucking
Gwen Stefani, this was Jerry Lee
Lewis and Don Cornelius and
Jimmy Page. That was the most
special event of my life. I sat
there with the Joneses and
[John Bonham's kids] Jason and
Zoe Bonham and Jimmy Page.
Couldn't you work the Uncle
Dave magic on Led Zeppelin -
"You guys get back together
and, hey, I'll play drums"?
Are you kidding me? I was
sitting next to Jason Bonham
who is a wizard on the drums.
John Paul Jones played
mellotron on a track for the
album sessions and I was
drumming. We left it off the
album cos it didn't fit but that is
the nearest I will ever get to
playing in Led Zeppelin.
People just won't let great
bands die, will they?
Ha! Next question.
The Gus Van Sant film [based
on Kurt Cobain's last days]...
Do you feel, "Oh God, here we
go again?"
No I don't. For me, Nirvana and
Kurt and Krist and all that is in a
certain place, which is guarded
and sacred and my own. It's
different from yours or theirs
[the film-makers]. It's real. All
the other stuff is fuelling "the
legend" and it's entertainment.
I assume it will all be wrong. If
it's by people who weren't there,
how can it be anything other?
Gus Van Sant has made some
great movies but I won't be
going to see it, much less sitting
there yelling, "Hey, that guy
doesn't look like me!"
Is there more Nirvana music in
the vaults?
We didn't write 40 songs and use
12 of them. We wrote 12 and
that's what we recorded. There
may be more from the early
years or Kurt's four-track demos,
but who knows? From my time
not a lot of fat was trimmed.
He's been dead over 10 years.
Do retrospectives and bios
stop you feeling it's "over"?
I never feel like it's over. There's
always going to be something
else. Maybe not like Tupac, you
know, with three albums a year.
But the powers that be want to
make sure it lasts forever.
You're still drumming on
the sofa.
It's cheaper than cigarettes.
By now, Foo Fighters
drummer Taylor Hawkins is in
the studio, swishing round his
kit. Grohl walks through the
office. It was here on the wall I
that he first pinned a wish list of
people he wanted on the album.
"I could hear them reading it,
going, John Paul Jones. Cool.
Josh Homme. Cool. Norah
fucking Jones??!!"
  Out in the sunshine of the
studio parking lot, Grohl pulls
on a cigarette. He knows Foo
Fighters fans will love the first
album but maybe not the
second. He knows a new
acoustic demographic may
inadvertently blow their stereos
to smithereens when they decide
to check out the first. It's all part
of the ongoing Foo Fighters
experiment, part of exploring
the two sides of Dave Grohl.
He puffs hard and the
nicotine seems to give him an
empire-building rush. "I'm
gonna have the weirdest fuckers
come through this gate to
record. I wanna see Kylie and Ry
Cooder out here shooting hoops
together. The Darkness and
Robbie fucking Williams over
there at the barbie. Dude, this is
a whole new chapter of 'What
the fuck?'"